''Forbidden Voices'' is a

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...

by director Barbara Miller about the fight for

human rights Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...

and freedom of speech of three female bloggers:

Yoani Sánchez Yoani María Sánchez Cordero (born September 4, 1975) is a Cuban blogger who has achieved international fame and multiple international awards for her critical portrayal of life in Cuba under its current government. Sánchez attended primary ...

from

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

Zeng Jinyan Zeng Jinyan (; born October 9, 1983), is a Chinese blogger and human rights activist. Zeng was put under house arrest in August 2006 and the blog that details her life under constant surveillance and police harassment has been subsequently blocked ...

from China and Farnaz Seifi from

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkm ...

. The film ''Forbidden Voices'' explores the motivation and goals of the online activists' struggle and traces the consequences and political repressions the three women are facing for their courageous activism. The documentary won the Amnesty International Award 2013 and the WACC SIGNIS Human Rights Award 2012, and was nominated for the

Swiss Film Award The ''Swiss Film Award'' (formerly ''Swiss Film Prize'', also called ''Quartz'') (french: Prix du cinéma suisse, german: Schweizer Filmpreis, it, Premio del cinema svizzero, rm, Premi dal film svizzer) is the national film award of Switzerland, ...

and the Prix de Soleure in 2013.

Internet censorship and repression

''Forbidden Voices'' describes how Internet access in Cuba is still prohibited for the average citizen, and

Internet censorship in China Internet censorship in the People's Republic of China (PRC) affects both publishing and viewing online material. Many controversial events are censored from news coverage, preventing many Chinese citizens from knowing about the actions of th ...

and Internet access in Iran are very harsh, the blogs of the three

protagonists A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a st ...

are

censored Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governments ...

, blocked or even shut-down by their governments. Seen by their governments as

dissidents A dissident is a person who actively challenges an established political or religious system, doctrine, belief, policy, or institution. In a religious context, the word has been used since the 18th century, and in the political sense since the 20 ...

the bloggers are often under surveillance and facing harsh

repression Repression may refer to: * Memory inhibition, the ability to filter irrelevant memories from attempts to recall * Political repression, the oppression or persecution of an individual or group for political reasons * Psychological repression, the p ...

s. Yoani Sánchez has been beaten and

arrested An arrest is the act of apprehending and taking a person into custody (legal protection or control), usually because the person has been suspected of or observed committing a crime. After being taken into custody, the person can be questi ...

, as well as publicly defamed on Cuban State TV for fighting for human rights in Cuba; Zeng Jinyan lived for years with her husband Hu Jia and her new born daughter under

house arrest In justice and law, house arrest (also called home confinement, home detention, or, in modern times, electronic monitoring) is a measure by which a person is confined by the authorities to their residence. Travel is usually restricted, if ...

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

for their fight for

human rights in China Human rights in mainland China are periodically reviewed by the United Nations Human Rights Committee (UNHRC), on which the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), government of the People's Republic of China (PRC) and various foreign governments an ...

; and Farnaz Seifi has been arrested for her fight for

gender equality Gender equality, also known as sexual equality or equality of the sexes, is the state of equal ease of access to resources and opportunities regardless of gender, including economic participation and decision-making; and the state of valuing d ...

in Iran and forced in to exile.

Premier and awards

The award-winning documentary ''Forbidden Voices''

premiered A première, also spelled premiere, is the debut (first public presentation) of a play, film, dance, or musical composition. A work will often have many premières: a world première (the first time it is shown anywhere in the world), its fi ...

at the 2012 Visions du Réel Film Festival in

Nyon, Switzerland Nyon (; outdated German: or ; outdated Italian: , ) is a municipality in Nyon District in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland. It is located some 25 kilometers north east of Geneva's city centre, and since the 1970s it has become part of the Gen ...

, and had its International Premiere at IDFA, The

International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam The International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) is the world's largest documentary film festival held annually since 1988 in Amsterdam. Over a period of twelve days, it has screened more than 300 films and sold more than 250,000 tic ...

. Awards: * 2012: WACC-SIGNIS Human Rights Award: ''Forbidden Voices'' (Toronto, Canada) * 2012: Amnesty International Award (Human Rights Film Festival San Sebastian, Spain): ''Forbidden Voices'' * 2012: Nomination Swiss Film Prize/Best Documentary: ''Forbidden Voices'' * 2013: Nomination Prix de Soleure at the

Solothurn Film Festival The Solothurn Film Festival (SFT) is the most important festival for Swiss film productions. Founded in 1966 in the Swiss city of Solothurn, the annual festival presents a representative selection of Swiss feature, documentary, and short film produ ...

Reviews

* "''Forbidden Voice''s is a compelling and deeply disturbing documentary that makes those of us who freely sit at our laptops and type realize how much we take for granted, and how powerful these women's voices are in their repressive societies." (Review by Leah Kolb, Bitch Flicks) * "This is a humbling documentary for a reporter to watch. Following three bloggers whose beat is their government's oppression, we see the extreme lengths they go to tell the world their stories: They bear house arrest, get beaten up by police, live for years in exile. ... Yet despite the misery these women's governments put them through, ''Forbidden Voices'' is hopeful: Information can no longer be managed by the state. That's largely because of technology, but equally due to the spirit of women like Sanchez, Farnaz, and Zeng." (Review ''Forbidden Voices'', by Daniel Person,

Seattle Weekly The ''Seattle Weekly'' is an alternative biweekly distributed newspaper in Seattle, Washington, United States. It was founded by Darrell Oldham and David Brewster as ''The Weekly.'' Its first issue was published on March 31, 1976. The newspape ...

) * "The film opens with blood-curdling screams of Yoani Sánchez. The Cuban blogger fought in February 2010 against an ambush-style arrest by the secret police, and the courageous woman was able to achieve in that critical moment the impossible, namely to operate unnoticed the recording button on her mobile phone. The ugly face of the ubiquitous apparatus of repression in the realm of the Castro brothers who still enjoy in certain circles a residual prestige ("After all, Cuba has a free health and education system for all"), could hardly be shown more impressively then as with this dramatic opening sequence." (Review ''Forbidden Voices'', by Geri Krebs, NZZ)

Additional press

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the ...

: ''Forbidden Voices'': Female bloggers fight for freedom of speech * Bitch Flicks: Documentary Explores the ''Forbidden Voices'' of Three Female Bloggers * ''Seattle Weekly News'': Review of ''Forbidden Voices'' * Deutsche Welle (TV): Video summary on ''Forbidden Voices'' *

Reporters Without Borders Reporters Without Borders (RWB; french: Reporters sans frontières; RSF) is an international non-profit and non-governmental organization with the stated aim of safeguarding the right to freedom of information. It describes its advocacy as found ...

: ''Forbidden Voices'' - Film Tribute To Three Exceptional Women Bloggers *

Women Make Movies Women Make Movies is a non-profit feminist media arts organization based in New York City. Founded by Ariel Dougherty and Sheila Paige with Dolores Bargowski, WMM was first a feminist production collective that emerged from city-wide Women's Lib ...

: Women Make Movies article on ''Forbidden Voices'' *

SRF SRF may refer to: Organisations: * Sudan Revolutionary Front, alliance of armed groups formed in 2011 * Syria Revolutionaries Front, formed in December 2013 * Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen, German-language broadcaster in Switzerland * SRF Limite ...

(

Swiss TV Schweizer Fernsehen (SF; "Swiss Television") is the German-language division of SRG SSR, in charge of production and distribution of television programmes in Switzerland for German-speaking Switzerland. It has its head office in Zürich.

) article: ''Forbidden Voice''s - Forbidden Votes

References

External links

* * * {{cite web, url=http://www.wmm.com/filmcatalog/pages/c847.shtml, title=''Forbidden Voices'' at Women Make Movies (American distributor) 2012 films Documentary films about human rights Films about freedom of expression 2012 documentary films Documentary films about women Swiss documentary films Documentary films about the Internet Films scored by Marcel Vaid